Woyome Threatens To Name And Shame Politicians In Masks Behind His Case


Businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome has threatened to name and shame certain politicians manipulating the judgement debt case involving him and the state.

This was after an Accra High Court presided over by His Lordship Justice John Ajet-Nassam on Monday April 30, 2014 struck out his application of no case.

Mr. Woyome in his application sought to convince the court to dismiss several claims brought against him part of which indicated that he defrauded the state under false pretence.

Justice Ajet-Nassam in his brief judgement gave Mr. Woyome up to May 5 to open his defense.

The ruling implied that Mr. Woyome would have to mount the witness box to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the GHC 51 million paid to him as judgement debt was justifiable.

Disappointed Mr. Woyome after the court sitting said the court had opened the flood gates for him to tell the full story of his incarceration.

He said, “As my lawyers plan that there should be an end to this matter because they have not been able to establish anything against me, I agree with them, but I think that this opportunity that has come today will give me a court room opportunity to be able to tell the good people of this country about what happened from the beginning to the end for them to understand and take a cue from me.”

“No matter the situation, whether government or not, the constitution of this country must be protected and each individual must stand firm and make sure that the right thing is done,” Mr. Woyome fumed.

He added, “Officialdom is not something we should take for a ride; officialdom is embedded in the constitution for your right including my right and I thank God who has led me throughout these two and half years of something that has been prolonged deliberately or whatever it is, I don’t know.”

Mr. Woyome therefore instructed his legal team to quicken the pace of filing his defense to enable him reveal what happened and the politics behind it.

Counsel for Mr. Woyome, Lawyer Musah Ahmed described the ruling as fair, but was quick to add that the legal team will fast track filing the defense.

“I am okay with the ruling and I feel that the judge has been fair to both parties; he has seen and digested the evidence, evaluated it and it is his considered opinion that we should open our defense.”

Lawyer Musah’s assured, “We can assure you that we have a reasonable defense, we are going to open our defense and cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case so that what we are seeking to achieve in the end we will achieve it.”

GENESIS OF THE WOYOME CASE
In pursuant of his pledge to help the State reclaim all monies wrongly paid to individuals and organizations in the name of judgment debt, former Attorney General, Martin A.B.K Amidu on June 28, 2012 dragged Businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome to court over GHC 51 million paid to him as judgement debt.

Apparently disgruntled with the sluggish performance of the prosecution in the Woyome judgement debt case, Mr. Martin Amidu went to court to help the State to retrieve the GH¢51 million, which he contended was wrongfully paid to businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

NINE PROSECUTION WITNESSES
The State prosecutors presented nine witnesses to testify against Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

The last witness, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Edward Odame Okyere, an investigator with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service said the bank also responded that there was no binding offer from it to fund projects in Ghana.

At the court proceedings on January 30 2014, The State represented by State Attorney Matthew Amponsah brought its case to a close after it had called nine witnesses.

Mr. Amponsah announced that the prosecution had exhausted the number of prosecution witnesses billed to testify against Woyome.

Alfred Agbesi Woyome was expected to open his defense after the prosecution had closed its case on the last adjourned date, but was unable to do so as his counsel, Mr. Osafo Boabeng told the court presided over by Justice Ajet-Nassam, that his team was unaware of the prosecution’s intention to close its case.

The Prosecution led by Mr. Mathew Amponsah told the court that he had no objection to the defense’s desire to file a submission of no case and that he would be waiting to give a response once he had been served.

His Lordship Justice John Ajet-Nassam urged both parties to file their submissions on or before March 17, 2014.

Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome accordingly filed his application of no case and anticipated that judgement will go in his favour.

However, the application of no case was thrown out by his Lordship Justice Ajet-Nassam who directed Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome to file his defense by May 5.

FACTS OF THE CASE
State prosecutors in February 2010 said Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome made a false representation that the government owed him two per cent of €1,106,470,587 for his services of financial engineering for the rehabilitation of the Kumasi, Accra and El-Wak stadia, ahead of the Cup of Nations.

At the hearing on November 6, 2013, the ninth prosecution witness told the court that responses from the Bank of Austria to two institutions in Ghana indicated that there was no agreement to provide funding for any project in Ghana.

The two institutions — the Police Administration and the Attorney-General’s Department — had written to the bank for responses on whether Mr. Woyome had any agreement with the bank to provide funding for projects in the country.

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